Women In Ancient Greece: A Comparison Between Athenian and Spartan Women

The primary text Euphiletus: A husband speaks in his own Defense
Is a great depiction of the attitude of Ancient Athenian men toward their wives.The
text demonstrates once more how little power women in Athens have in their relationships compared to the women of Sparta.Coming from 400 BCE the text details
the trial of Euphiletus, a man from Ancient Athens who when he found out his wife was having an adulterous relationship, murdered
her lover.Further evidence of her status was that it was considered to be primarily
the fault of the male because she could not possibly have come up with such a scheme on her own.All the while it was considered to be somewhat acceptable for the man to have relationships with women
other than his wife.The text was written by the speechwriter Lysias.It is yet another demonstration of how women in Athens were afforded less
rights during the same time period than their counterparts in Sparta.

This is yet another sharp
contrast between women in Sparta and women in Athens.Women in Sparta could
and did engage with men other than the one which they were married to.It has
been examined and it would appear that often times the paternity of children in Sparta
was difficult to determine because of the wives multiple relationships.“Part
able paternity was certainly used in a society like Sparta
where male mortality and the absence rate of men were high and women were seldom at physical or economic risk.”(Pomeroy, 2002)On the flip side while
Spartan men were monogamous, it is quite possible that women in Sparta
could be described as polygamous on occasion. (Blundell, 1995 Pg.154)

“What
I have to prove, I take it, is just this: that Eratosthenes seduced my wife, and that in corrupting her he brought shame upon
my children and outrage upon me, by entering my home; that there was no other enmity between him and me except this; and I
did not commit this act for the sake of money, in order to rise from poverty to wealth, nor for any other advantage except
the satisfaction allowed by law.”(Lualdi, 2004 Pg. 62)

It becomes obvious that
this was not the practice in Sparta, where women
had freedom over their relationships.However, in Athens it was viewed as a desecration of the family honor that the wife was seeing more than
one man.It was not tolerated primarily because the women in Athens were like property, and if they engaged in a relationship with another man it was
like trespassing by that man.While Spartan women were loaned out by their husbands
it is often thought that it was only after the woman had been consulted by the man requesting the loan.This was prior to the man who was requesting the loan of a wife going to the husband to ask for the loan.It was even to the extent that
if the husband in Sparta was gone too long as she deemed it,
she could marry someone else.(Blundell, 1995 Pg. 154)